I too had hope Olympus Sp550 would be good as I was looking to move from Panasonic DMCz7(good camera).

Will now be waiting for Tests on Canon S5

Been down the 'old' SLR route some years ago but not keen to go to DSLR- too tempting to always be 'adding' then you have to carry around all the kit = not used much !! at least a good 'bridge' camera fantastic zoom &amp; easy to carry.

Yes, many folks (such as long time DSLR users) would view a DSLR camera kit as a "continuing investment plan." And I would include myself in that category. So, i feel that GJH, does indeed make a rather important point.

Bridge cameras such as the Panasonic FZ-7, or FZ-8, the Canon S2IS or the Canon S-3IS, or the Canon S-5IS, the Sony H-2 and H-5, or even the Fuji S-6000/S-6500 offer a lot of quality and capability for their prices. A bridge camera is a one time investment, as oppossed to the DSLR cameras, due primarily their interchangeable lenses becoming in a lot of instances "a continuing investment."

It is surely food for thought. I will be most interested to hear other posts on this topic.

I can agree that dSLR requires a continuous investment plan.. and I am not ready for that at all.. I was considering another compact - FZ50.. but i Oly E300 just came into my way without any consideration.. it's all about a price! This weekend I am leaving for Latvia with my kids and I really hope to return in 2 weeks with my new camera and even first pics, if I am lucky to figure out how it works. I have no experience in dSLR.

Why in Latvia to buy it? I can explain.. You know the prices in USD.. so in Latvia they are calculated from USD to LVL (Latvian lats that are about the same strength as a British Pound) and the figure is according to the currency exchange rate. But in Italy is this way.. they are just changing USD to EUR and the figure remains the same. And I just cannot pay that much for the thing that doesn't cost that much.

In the end I can almost say that FZ50 is not an issue anymore.. should be e330.